London tube passengers who suffered disruption last week will be able to ask for compensation over and above the refund of their ticket price. Some passengers were forced to walk along the tracks to safety and others spent two hours stuck inside trains after a signal failure cause suspensions of lines. District and Hammersmith and those lines between Liverpool Street and Barking were the most severely disrupted during the morning peak hour problems. The compensation offer follows a recent payment of £40 to each of the 800 people who were walked along the line after the failure of the Jubilee line recently. Transport for London has said that they will not fail to offer compensation in the future although this could cost millions. The issues which have been experienced by passengers in the last few weeks have led to speculation as to whether the system will be able to cope with the Olympics and the Jubilee weekend.

It is being suggested that the cost of the recent compensation payment changes regarding airline delays will mean higher flight costs for passengers. The European Court of Justice recently ruled that passengers who are delayed while travelling should receive compensation if the delay is longer than 3 hours. A specialist lawyer for the industry Jo Kolatasis has commented that there will be a financial burden on airlines and that they need to have plenty of reserves because compensation claims will be rising. She describes the European court ruling as nonsense and pointed out that claims can be backdated to 2005. Kolatsis has said that safety could be compromised in a bid to avoid delays, while a spokesperson from Thomas Cook has said that flights will not be able to be cancelled to avoid a delay and that such delays could roll over to one or two days. Currently around 1% of UK flights are delayed by more than three hours.

It is being suggested that insurance companies are causing increases to car premiums because they are offering personal injury claims to the highest bidder. John Spencer who worked as a lawyer where this practise took place has said that bundles of claims are being sold off to solicitors in this way. He describes this as putting someone's misery up for sale to the highest bidder. He also points out that this leads to more claims taking place and therefore higher costs for premiums. The charging of referral fees will be banned from 2013, but Mr Spencer believed that firms were looking into how they can continue the practice even after the ban. Mr Spencer also points out that often people are encouraged to settle out of court for sums which are lower than they would receive if they went through the correct channels. Insurance companies have hit back at these claims and say that the increase in premiums is down to no win no fee lawyers who encourage those with minor injuries to make compensation claims.

A twenty year-old man has won the right the sue for compensation after his birth left him severely brain damaged due to a lack of oxygen. David Fawdrey was born at Basildon Hospital by emergency caesarean in 1991 and it is claimed that this birth was delayed by medical staff and that it is this which led to his brain damage. The case is going to the courts via David's parents who allege negligence on the part of the East of England Strategic Health Authority which managed the hospital at the time. The experts working on behalf of the hospital are claiming that the brain damage had already occurred by the time David was born and they have agreed to pay 70% of the compensation asked for as a compromise. His parents point out that no amount of money will make up for the impact of the injuries on him and the family.